Uruguay's Godin irritated by people's 'short memory'

The defender has admitted that the Celeste face an uphill battle to qualify for Brazil 2014 after some poor results, but insisted that the team should be treated better

Diego Godin has stated that the recent criticism of Uruguay goes to show that the public needs to be reminded of the team's successes in tournaments recently and should be given more respect.

La Celeste have failed to win any of their last four qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, and have dropped to fifth in the standings, prompting numerous attacks from the public.

Godin, who was part of the side that finished fourth at the world tournament in South Africa in 2010 and lifted Copa America a year later, has insisted that the team's achievements should not be forgotten.

"Inside the camp we’re keeping calm, but when criticism comes your way it does bother you how short people’s memories are," the former Villarreal man told Fifa's official website.

"You can’t just forget everything that we’ve achieved because of what’s happened in the past couple of months."

Godin then took his time to defend captain Diego Lugano and star striker Diego Forlan, who have come under heavy criticism recently.

“In Lugano’s case, a lot of the talk is because he’s not getting games for his club. As for Forlan, we’re so used to such high standards from him that, having not scored in our last few games, things have also turned a bit ugly," he added.

"Criticism is normal and so is talk about generational overhauls, but El Maestro Tabarez has made it abundantly clear how he views the national squad and the new blood that he’s already brought in."

Godin has laid down Uruguay's current struggles to their lack of organisation and discipline, two traits he believes have been essential in their recent successes.

"One of our strengths in the last few years, which have included a spectacular World Cup, winning the Copa America and making a strong start to this [Brazil 2014] qualifying phase, had been order and tactical discipline," he continued.

"And we’ve noticed that this discipline has unravelled when we've had to chase games. That’s led to us losing matches and losing them heavily.

"We want to be at this World Cup – we don’t care about anything else."